Seiging An Opportunity
Industrial Zone - Pz-Zazz The Industrial Zone is smelled before it is seen, and the smell is enough to drop a lesser man at ten paces. The streets are unpleasantly sticky, and they run an unnatural, murky green when it rains. The pollution is so thick that it's hard to see down an alley. Everything is a sacrifice to the bottom line, even safety. Missile Trailer is slowly driving on the street coming from the spaceport. He's scanning the surrounding, not wanting to be ambushed. After all Pz-zazz isn't the safest place, even for a cybertronian. <> <> Swindle rolls along next to the truck, unbothered by the hideous conditions of this section of Pz-Zazz... It's hardly the first time he's been doing business here. This time, it was just more of the 'hostile takeover' sort of business. Which, at the thought of, his bluster sullies a little. <<... You sure you're going to be okay going through with this boss? I mean, you've turned back every other offer I've made to loan you a weapon until yours is repaired...>> Ah great. The space bridge operators failed and sent poor Wheelie so far from home. How was he gonna get back? Thankfully, his smaller stature and quiet movements have kept him out of harms way, but he had to find some kind fo transport off of Pz-Zazz. The place was hardly a home for the likes of little Wheelie. Wreck stuff? Yeah, sure, Contrail can do that. Punish those who give succour to their enemies? Oh, that's even better. For now, she just drives along idly. Casually, even. Missile Trailer emits some kind of grunt, <>. The truck slightly accelerates towards his destination. Apparently Onslaught can't wait to be done with his business here, which is not surprising since this street looks like it could be a part of Blot's room. Military Gunnery Jeep would shrug if he could in vehicle mode. <> Moving quietly across the rooftops of the industrial area, Wheelie is simply looking for a place that looks less shady than a gas station in the middle of a desert... and ends up finding worse. Happening to look down, Wheelie spies a trio of vehicles sporting those familiar Decepticons logos. Tacky thing, really. Now the Autobot insignia... THAT was sleek. Anyways, this was a sign of nothing good. And really, what good was a little bot who could move around quietly if he couldn't spy. Who knows!? He might actually end up saving the day! Or at least bringing home some very handy intel. But he'd have to be careful. Alone on a scary, hostile planet with 3 very dangerous Decepticons... why was Wheelie getting this odd sense of deja vu all of a sudden? He shrugged it off as he followed stealthily on the rooftops. Combat: Wheelie slips into the shadows and out of sight... Lamborghini Gallardo may or may not be tailling the Combaticons. She may or may not have even been invited. In any case... she's not too worried. The Decepticons used to run energon bootlegging out of Pz-Zazz. If they cause a ruckus, there are... ways of smoothing things over. Missile Trailer doesn't respond to Swindle. <> As Onslaught speaks, the Decepticons arrives at the location mentionned by Swindle. <> Wheelie simply stayed hiding in the shadows, eyeing the movements of the Decepticons, though he did get a bit lower to the ground to see what they were up to more clearly. It'd be very bad news if he got caught. He just wanted to keep an eye on those pesky Cons... <> Swindle replies somewhat snidely. But the moment is behind and gone as they reach the final approach. <> he adds, before turning off and driving down a side road to circle around to a side entrance. Lamborghini Gallardo listens along to Onslaught's plan and confirms, <> Time to see how this goes horribly wrong. She starts off by trying to drive right through the front wall. Some serious gate-crashing up in here. Marissa Faireborn was trying to get back into the 'swing' of things taking back over the command of the EDC. After reviewing files of soldiers and suppliers, she desperately needed to get out of the office and to do something...anything. Someone finally suggested she go visit one of their weapon distributers to see about negotiating a new contract for upgraded weapons and ammunition. After the shuttle flight, she disembarked and was shown around, being given a tour of one of the warehouses and stock depots. Missile Trailer watches as Contrail crashes the gates of the wall surrounding the facility. The Combaticon remains in the street, obvious to Wheelie's presence. With a loud burst, his trailer mounted cannons starts firing at the automated defenses built on top of the wall. By the time the guards pour out of the building to protect it, Onslaught manages to take down two turrets. Though they are shocked, the guards start to fire at the first target they see : Contrail. Military Gunnery Jeep drives around to the side and up to the loading bays as Contrail and Onslaught start making a ruckus out front. Transforming to come to a skidding stop at one of the large doors, and uses a magnetic tether to grab the paneled metal and pull it out of it's guide-rails. Pushing his way through the resulting opening, the shyster turns on the headlights built into his lower torso and starts into the holding bay. The jeep flips back and up, revealing a lean mean black market machine. Little Wheelie doesn't know the EDC general herself is out on Pz-Zazz. He still just hiding and watching the trio of Cons get down to business. What was a poor little bot to do in the face of all this chaos? Aside from simply stay hidden and watch them, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike, or cause trouble! Marissa Faireborn started at the first sound of the attack, her reflexes on edge as she looked about, trying to find evidence of what was causing it. She looked at the owner of the facility who looked about frantically and began listening to incoming reports. He seemed to go from worried to panicked. Trying to usher her somewhere safe, she overheard 'Decepti...' coming from the radio. Pulling from his grasp, "No. I'm not going anywhere. Get some of your guardsman in here and set up a perimeter." After that she moved towards the door of the docking bay just as it was pulled off its rails and a Decepticon came blundering in. "Frack...." she swore under her breath and pulled her sidearm. She hadn't come prepared to fight 'Cons. She was here on negotiations for supplies. Without waiting, she took aim and fired off a shot at Swindle before trying to duck behind a crate. Combat: Marissa Faireborn sets her defense level to Guarded. Combat: Marissa Faireborn strikes Swindle with her Pistol attack! Lamborghini Gallardo has ballistic shielding as a car and is a smaller targer than she otherwise usually is. She can't evade all the fire, but in those moments of shock, she takes advantage and starts trying to mow down her opposition with her machineguns. Of course, she cannot see Swindle's trouble with Marissa... *bang*bang* Two more explosions, two more turrets gone. The missile trailer rolls pass the gates as Contrail obliterates a squads of guards. More keep coming but Onslaught concentrates his fire of secondary buildings methodically bringing them down. He's also unaware of Marissa's presence. So much potential profit, so little time... No, optics on the bigger prize Swindle. This is a very specific aquisition you are here for, not a bargin bin bonanza. Your profit line can come into play when you start selling your hardware to fill the game this place's loss will create. Now where is... hmmm... He stoops down to pull a shipping manifest off a crate. And that's when a shot pings off the back of his shoulder. "What the..." He half turns, smaller gun materializing in one hand.. but there's no immediate sign of whom shot at him. "If you're smart, that's the only shot you'll take." With a grunt he turns back to the crate, tossing the list aside and prying off the top. Wheelie started to panic slightly as General Faireborn suddenly poked up inside the warehouse. And armed only with a pistol. If she was gonna get involved... and indeed, she already was, Wheelie was her only chance to get out of there with most of her intact. And if he was gonna get involved, who to try and surprise? Swindle seemed to be the point man, but those other two could be a real problem if they got the drop on them. But Swindle was already digging through important things, and the closest one to the general. If he was gonna get the drop on someone, it'd have to be him, it seems. Wheelie very quietly begins sneaking his way inside the building through the roof, hiding in the rafters and judging his ability to get the drop on Swindle... Marissa Faireborn moved around the corner of a crate, looked at the label and saw what was inside. Opening the box, she pulled out a nice riffle, similar to the one she used back at base. Checking to see if it was loaded, she frowned at seeing it wasn't and went in search of ammunition. Sure enough, two boxes over were the cartridges for it. Quickly opening the box, she got out several, loaded the rifle and then popped out from behind the crate, aimed and fired at Swindle again before ducking again. She didn't say a word. Combat: Marissa Faireborn strikes Swindle with her Rifle attack! Endless goons! "If only these were Autobots, this would be even better!" Contrail crows callously, "Really, you rent-a-cops - what's worthy dying over here, huh?" her machineguns continue to roar away as she swerves through the factory, sometimes running goons down instead. Swindle takes out a small device and sticks it to the side of a crate, and tosses a few other of the disc shapes under various shelves as he goes, and pulls another shipping list off. Come on, they should of received the the order he put in through a falsified contractor company several days in advance. Optics dart back and forth reading, not wanting to waste too much time with some idiot guard or such sneaking around, got to... aha. He steps a few more crates over and pries it open. Jackpot. And that's when he's shot again! This time it leaves a moderate burn in his armor. "Ugh! Can nobody listen to reason around here?" On the defensive now he raises his right arm and keeps his scatterblaster ready while he semi-crouchs down, mutters into the comm and starts pulling hardware components out of the crate and stuffing them into storage compartments. Rest assure he's got plenty of them hidden in his chassis. Swindle says, "I don't know who, or if it's just some idiot guards or what, but -someone- is sneaking around the warehouse trying to take potshots while I work." Swindle says, "On the brighter side of things, I found my, aheh, package waiting." Swindle says, "I'll just save them the shipping costs~" "I admit they are not worthy opponents but this is not about entertaining yourself. We are here on business for the empire." Onslaught prooves his points by obliterating another building. Meanwhile the guards finally understood they won't be able to stop Contrail and they start to flee. The combaticon commander opens a frequency and ask Swindle <> Onslaught says, "You're having troubles with a single guard? Primus...." Contrail says, "Just steal his bank accounts, Swindle." Swindle says, "No, but it -is- an annoyance." Swindle says, "But this is why I sent an order through a fake contractor company to make sure all the stuff I want is in one convenient location." Onslaught says, "I may finally make a good strategist of you." Swindle goes on as if checking off a grocery list, "Sonic pulse discharger.... resonance amplyfier... feedback blockout module... Muzzle recalibration control... dispersal regulator... cluster compressor..." Swindle says, "... Are you sure you want the rest of this blown up afterwards?" Onslaught says, "Affirmative. Even though it will be a minor blow, it will hurt the fleshies." Wheelie unholsters his blaster from the side of his waist. It wasn't much, but it had seen him through just as many encounters as his slingshot and combat knife had. Taking aim from the rafters, Wheelie aims for Swindle's storage compartments, hoping more to break whatever he was storing rather than cause actual damage to the Decepticon. Not that he planned to come down from his hiding spot, not with such a good vantage point! Combat: Wheelie appears from the shadows... Combat: Sneak Attack!! Combat: Wheelie strikes Swindle with his Laser Slingshot (Laser) attack! Swindle mutters something about the sacrifice of merchandise hurting more than getting shot at. Marissa Faireborn thanks her lucky stars Wheelie finally decided to take a shot and after moving to a different vantage point, hoping to get a shot at whatever it is he's putting into 'storage', she takes aim and fires, then ducks back under cover. She's hoping that enough stings and he'll either go away or stop what he's doing to take up pursuit. Combat: Marissa Faireborn strikes Swindle with her Rifle attack! Swindle digs out one more component. ".. Oh hey, they did finish developing the new combustion chambering mechanism. I can use this on that plasma flamethro--ERRK!" The slingshot pops the piece with its hit, causing it to combust right in Swindle's face. Then another rifle shot pelts his -other- shoulder, though for the moment he's busy rubbing his scorched wrist. ".... Wait a minute, I only know one mech that uses a slingshot in this day and age!" With a brief grumble he backs out from between the crates. "Should of know it was that savage... but this time *I* have the advantage!" He pulls out one of those discs and tosses it into the rafters, then turns and runs for the doors. The disc lands on a beam, then pops out little robotic spider legs to leap towards Wheelie and try to latch on to explode with a electromagnetic blast. Combat: Swindle strikes Wheelie with the Swindle-forged Parasitic Mines attack! And the other ones he left before start beeping, too. You might not want to stick around... Missile Trailer gets tire of waiting for Swindle. If he cannot deal with simple organic guards, Onslaught will do it. His tires scream on the ground as he accelerate towards the main building. He hits the wall at full force, passing right through it in a cloud of dust, making his way towards Swindle's position. <> "Ever heard of trash talking, Onslaught? it might help... when you're being assaulted by children," Contrail deadpans. But there's beeping? Uh-oh. Maybe it is time that she was not here. She shoots out the ceiling, transforms, and starts to beat a retreat... starts. Or maybe starts to loop around for an attack run. Swindle says, "Stupid little savage. Why do the Autobots keep that little misfit around even..." Contrail says, "Proof they are evil and that our cause is just." Darkwing says, "Becuase the Autobots like strays." Swindle says, "Hey, hey, I've got the stuff and I'm coming out. Don't get too close to the -bomb rigged warehouse-" Onslaught says, "Don't worry about me." Marissa Faireborn tries to find an exit but when Onslaught crashes through the wall, pieces of building material fly everywhere, knocking over crates and scattering dust, making things a bit more hazardous. Then she notices the beeping sounds. Dammit! She swings around one of the crates and tries to take another shot off at one of the cons, mainly Swindle if she can hit him. She just hopes she can do it and then hi-tail it out of there before all hell breaks loose. Combat: Marissa Faireborn strikes Swindle with her Rifle attack! Swindle says, "Well just blow it all up with a missile or something!" Onslaught says, "As soon as you're clear from the building. I don't want to damage the components." Wheelie had to make a split second decision... after getting blown out of the rafter's and into the floor below. Seriously, that blast hurt... and it left him fairly woozy too. He may be wrapped in armor, but that doesn't make a concrete floor any softer. Staggering to his feet, Wheelie needed to think lightly on them as Swindle made a dash for it, followed by Onslaught blasting through another wall (what few were still somehow intact), did not help him. General Faireborn was counting on him... what to do? What would Rodimus and Magnus do? Uh, first... protect humans! Right! Shakily swinging his back to Onslaught, he smacked his rear at the Decepticon. "Hey, you big brute, you've got good aim! ...for a blind protoform with a hobble! So lame!" One distraction taken care of, hopefully drawing attention from the decidedly less protected Faireborn. Now to catch Swindle! Wheelie blindly rushes after where he thought Swindle had escaped to, pulling a flare rock from his pouch. "Hold it, you thieving Con, I'm not done yet! Stealing from the EDC! I'll make sure you regret!" Wheelie loaded his /other/ slingshot with the rock, pulling back and firing it at the retreating Con. Combat: Wheelie strikes Swindle with his Slingshot attack! Swindle wryly, "Gee, I'm touched." Swindle bolts back out the loading bay he previously pulled open, but not without getting several more shots to the back. Is that acid in that pellet? Dammit, that's going to take hours to buff out and replace. And he can't ask anyone to suck the poison out because he's the only one on the team with a mouth! Sigh. But once he's on clear lot he transforms and puts the pedal to the metal, aiming to disappear amongst all the filth and pollution before he gets any more roughed up and loses what they came here for. Swindle folds down and in on himself to become a military grade off-road jeep. Combat: Military Gunnery Jeep sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Military Gunnery Jeep begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from F-35B Lightning II Missile Trailer rolls back to exit the building by the hole he made into the wall. He spotted the humans but will deal with her in time. As for Wheelie...hopefully he will run him over while backing off. <> After a few second, Onslaught finally get a good line of fire on the factory and in a burst of fire, a photon missile flies off his trailer and strikes the building. F-35B Lightning II decides that, yes, she is actually just going to run away without a final missile run. Onslaught can blow the place up. She has had enough exercise for the day. Will Swindle survive? Who know!? Combat: F-35B Lightning II begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit. Marissa Faireborn winces as she sees Swindle and Onslaught retreat and realziing there's nothing more she can do, she moves towards Wheelie. But two steps towards him, she hears Onslaught fire his weapons, attempting to bring the building down. "Oh shit...." she moaned and ran towards Wheelie. "Come on!" Wheelie hit Swindle, but darn it, it just wasn't enough! Add in the fact Onslaught is bringing down the house, but not like Wheelie does, and it all equates to a really sucky day for poor Wheelie. No mission success, no victories, he's been blown up... and now he's got a building falling on top of him! Wheelie nods to Marissa as she approaches. "Wheelie is moving, no time to be slow! Those stupid Cons have set this place to blow!" Wheelie took off out the front bay door, looking back and carrying Faireborn with him if she was having trouble keeping up... not that someone like her probably needed it, but still... Fortunately running -away- from a heist is something Swindle knows very well, and had a least two potential retreat routes ready before hand. Not the master strategist Onslaught is, but he knows how to plan when it comes to what he's good at. Just sort of a shame he can't stay to watch the fireworks... or had time to grab some extra stuff. But he got what was important (to get Onslaught off his back). <> The building falling apart as Onslaught fires one last missile. Then, ignoring Marissa and Wheelie, he transforms back into his robot mode and radios Swindle <>. Then with a last glance at the factory, he takes off, leaving only ruins behind him From his previous mode, Onslaught unfolds into his robot mode. Combat: Onslaught begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Wheelie and Military Gunnery Jeep